In view of the changing patterns of delivery of psychiatric services emphasizing local care and resulting in the concentration of the mentally ill in local communities, a study is proposed which will consider alternatives to hospitalization from the perspective of optimizing factors facilitating the social integration of these individuals. The study involves the continued data analysis of 733 structured interviews with a probability sample of all non-retarded former mental patients, between 18 and 65 years old living in sheltered-care facilities and with the operators of these facilities in California, and a comparable sample of 134 interviews in Saskatchewan, Canada. In continuing the analysis of the California and Saskatchewan sheltered-care facility data, we will attempt to develop an empirically-based typology of sheltered-care environments and match residents to specific environments in a manner which maximizes resident level of social integration. The study will continue to refine a measure of an individual's level of social integration and to ascertain factors facilitating and hindering the social integration of former mental patients in their local communities.